Currently, certain steering shafts are supported within mast jackets by duplexed pair of angular contact bearings having coined or ground inner and outer races with a complement of caged balls therebetween. In assembly, each outer race, which has a complement of caged balls snap fitted thereto, is separately set into place against a shoulder in the mast jacket, or steering column housing. Next, one inner race member is fitted to the shaft and the shaft is passed through the housing and through the outer races until the inner race seats on the caged balls of one of the outer races. Next, the other inner race is fitted over the shaft and then into engagement with the caged balls of the other outer race. Then, a spring and clamping ring is fitted against the last assembled inner race to preload it and maintain it in axial position. While this provides the required bearing support of the shaft in the mast jacket, it may be desirable from a time and cost standpoint to eliminate the separate parts and separate assembly steps and replace them with a unitized bearing assembly or package.
While Chamberlin, U.S. Pat. No. 2,164,497, shows a unitized assembly which lacks axial and radial symmetry, it is undesirable for final assembly. The raceways and the cylindrical supports which seat on the shaft and the mast jacket are integrally formed, which would necessitate forming the whole package from expensive bearing quality steel. Also, the manufacture of the ball and raceway portion of the assembly could not be separated from the assembly of the rest of the package.